Ripe Treasure: Hawaiian Heirloom Bananas
By the time Westerners arrived, Hawaiians had developed at least forty-four distinct banana varieties.
All You Need Is Grub
Only around five hundred wild parrotbills exist today, in the remote rainforests of East Maui.
Return of the Lost Legume
The discovery of Kanaloa Kahoolawensis adds not only a new species, but a new genus to the scientific records—a rare occurrence in modern botany.
Koli‘i: The RuPaul of the Rain Forest
The native lobelia, koli'i spreads an umbrella of pink blossoms in late summer.
Casting Call
As summer ripens, local fishermen start scanning the shoreline for oama, or baby goatfish.
Watch out for Wedgies!
Wedge-tailed shearwaters spend the majority of their lives at sea, where they feed on baitfish and squid. They return to Hawai'i each spring to nest.
Winter Surf
For Islanders, nothing signals winter quite like the smell of deep ocean swells and the pounding thud of giant surf.
‘Uala, the Globe-trotting Sweet Potato
The sweet potato, or ‘uala, is one of Polynesia’s most mysterious plants.
We Give You the Raspberry
‘Akala, the native Hawaiian raspberry, is one of the native plants bringing life back to Poli Poli forest after last January’s devastating fire.
Seasonal Reds
Bright red poinsettias are a familiar sight in the Hawaiian Islands during the holidays.
Welcome Home, Kolea!
Every autumn, Hawai‘i welcomes home a beloved snowbird, the Pacific golden plover (Pluvialis fulva), known to Hawaiians as kolea.
Summer Stargazing
Take advantage of Maui’s warm summer nights by gazing up into the star speckled sky.
Longboarding
Along the coast of Maui, few things sing summertime more than the wide, rolling southern swells dotted with longboarders.
Jacarandas
Each spring the tall jacaranda trees lining the Upcountry Maui roadsides begin their slow explosion of color.
A Whale of a Love Song
Every winter, Hawaii entertains around 4,000 North Pacific humpback whales returning from their summer vacations in Alaska.
Persimmons
Known in Hawaii as kaki, persimmons were cultivated by Maui’s early Japanese farmers and continue to be harvested at a handful of family farms.
Maui Events & News
Imua Family Services’ Will Smith Discovery Garden
A World of Pure Imagination
Story by Savy Janssen
Photographs by Jason Moore
Sunlight filtered through the outstretched arms of the 120-year-old monkey pod trees, and...
